Blogging the Vote in Iraq; Elections, Yes; Democracy, No

Published: December 18, 2005

Web logs invaded the Internet around the same time as the American-led coalition invaded Iraq, so it is fitting that some of the most insightful commentary on the war has come from Iraqi citizens -- students, professionals, homemakers, soldiers, former Baathists and others -- on their personal sites. The Op-Ed page asked several young Iraqi bloggers to write about their experiences during the parliamentary voting on Thursday -- and to share their thoughts about what the election will mean for their country's future.

ELECTION DAY was calm and relatively peaceful; except for people walking to polling stations and the occasional Iraqi police patrol, the streets were almost empty.

There was a rather large polling center set up in our area, which made the neighbors slightly nervous, as no one was sure what to expect, but with the exception of a few minor explosions, our part of Baghdad was quiet. The mood at the polling center was calm and slightly disorganized all at once.

Many Iraqis went to vote because the current situation is intolerable. It's not so much with high hopes for drastic change that people went to the polls as it is in the national aspiration of putting an end to the occupation, and to the tyranny of the last year in particular.

Candidates on the political lists have been making endless promises in the hopes of attracting supporters, and the metaphorical carrot many political parties have been dangling in front of potential supporters is the promise of an end to the American-led occupation.

Will the new government be stronger or more reliable than the several interim governments we've had? Not likely. A government won't be respected unless it is perceived as sovereign by the people, and occupation in itself goes against every suggestion of sovereignty and democracy. How does one put faith in a government that needs the use of foreign armies to keep it in power?

In my opinion, elections in Iraq cannot be democratic under a foreign occupation -- especially when the election lists were composed largely of the same people who supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq. We are recycling the same names, faces and ideologies of sectarian and ethnic divide.

I don't believe elections will lead to democracy in Iraq unless they are truly free elections -- that is, free of foreign influence and not serving foreign interests. If democracy was equivalent with elections in general, Iran would be considered a democracy, wouldn't it?